New Retailers Open Doors in Newport News

The $450 million Tech Center development in Newport News is bringing new retailers to the Peninsula. Some have already opened their doors to the public and more plan to do the same in the following weeks.

The new shops will all be part of the Marketplace at Tech Center, a 250,000-square-foot retail center, which makes up the 100-acre Tech Center, along with the 50-acre Tech Center Research Park and the residential offerings located at the site. Starbucks and BJs Restaurant and Brewhouse are already open and ready for customers. Numerous other restaurants and retailers are scheduled to also open this month. These include Café Rio, Jimmy Johns, Zoe’s Kitchen, PF Chang’s, Mellow Mushroom, DSW, Conte’s Bike Shop, ULTA, Carter’s/OshKosh, Mattress Firm, Five Below, Hi-Ho Silver and Hair Cuttery. BJs Restaurant and Brewhouse and Café Rio are the newcomers to the region. Other restaurants and stores are scheduled to open in October.

“We are so pleased to see this emerge as a shopping and dining destination,” John Lawson, CEO of W.M. Jordan, Tech Center’s developer, said in a statement. “This is the first phase of Tech Center, and we anticipate drawing people from the Peninsula and beyond to experience the wide range of offerings.” The massive development is expected to bring 5,500 new jobs to Newport News.

“We’ve worked really hard to bring unique and new-to-the-Peninsula restaurants and retailers to the Marketplace at Tech Center,” added Jeff Garrison, partner at S.J. Collins, a Georgia-based company that is developing Marketplace in a joint venture with W.M. Jordan. “Some of these restaurants are going to blow people’s minds in Hampton Roads. This is the first restaurant in the region for Café Rio. Other locations on the West Coast and in Northern Virginia have lines out the door for their hand-made tortillas and all fresh ingredients.”